Stop Shops: Virtual Store Shelves in Subway & Bus Stations

Sent to you by nunok via Google Reader:

If you are going to have to wait for a ride anyway, why not do some shopping? No, not on your laptop or that tiny screen of your smartphone – right there on the wall, via virtual aisles on a life-scaled billboard full of products.

First in South Korea thanks to Tesco, and now popping up in Australia and other countries, it works something like this: a range of popular everyday products is displayed on the wall; scan the QR codes of the ones you want and your purchase will be added to a digital shopping cart.

In many cases, your purchases will arrive the next day – in some, they will be waiting for you when you get home, saving you that side trip to the corner store or local supermarket.

If nothing else, this presents an interesting technology-bridging mechanism for those reluctant to shop online. They choose from real products, presented at actual size, in a potentially more familiar mode of browsing than via the internet.